Blakely wanted in the Orange and Blue

The Florida Gators once again hosted several big name prospects on campus Saturday and during the visit the prospects were able to watch a spring practice.

LB Ja’Quain Blakely (6-2, 207, Moultrie, GA Colquitt County) was one of the few out of state prospects that made the trip to Gainesville and he had a got a lot of attention on Saturday.

“It was great, I learned a lot about Florida,” Blakely said. “I got to go to the practice, try on the jersey and talk to the coaches. I got to meet with coach [Geoff] Collins and coach [Randy] Shannon so it was a real good day.”

Blakely plays for a tough head coach in Rush Prospt, so the Gators practice wasn’t much different for the Georgia linebacker.

“Practice was good, much like back home in high school,” Blakley said. “Everything is organized and non stop moving. I liked how coach Collins and coach Shannon coached up the linebackers. Coach Shannon doesn’t sugar coat anything out there. He tells what’s going to make you a better player on the field.”

After practice was over defensive coordinator Geoff Collins talked to Blakely about the situation of need for linebackers at Florida.

“Coach Collins was telling me about how they are going to sign four linebackers in this class,” Blakely said. “He said that I would have a good chance to play if I come to UF. He said that he sees me as an outside linebacker at Florida.”

Blakely wanted to watch film at Florida and he got the chance to do just that with linebackers coach Randy Shannon on Saturday as Shannon went over how he likes his guys to play the game.

“Coach Shannon was just telling me what he expects out of his linebackers at Florida,” Blakely said. “He was showing us some clips of what he tells his guys to read in games. He was going over the details and said that the small details matter the most in games. “

Before Blakely left Florida on Saturday he had the chance to sit down with head coach Jim McElwain who just wanted to see how the day went for the Georgia prospect.

“I liked coach McElwain a lot,” Blakely said. “He said that he wanted to make sure I knew that I had an offer from the head guy himself in him. He said he enjoyed watching my film and that he would like to see me in the orange and blue.”

Heading into the visit Blakely liked Florida but he didn’t know a lot about the Gators but he leaves Gainesville with a better understanding of Florida.

“I have a lot of interest in Florida since I got to learn more about Florida,” Blakely said. “I’m still pretty open while I sit back and enjoy everything and take other visits. I don’t have any other visits planned but tomorrow is another day so we will see. I do want to get back down to Florida though.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Florida is in great shape early on for Blakely but the Georgia linebacker wants to take several other visits before deciding. The Gators will continue to recruit him hard though as they hope to get him back on campus soon.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.